1. The Role of Religion in the New Atlantis and The Prince
Matthew Gibson
30 May, 2016

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During the early fifteenth century, Niccolό Machiavelli published one of his most famous
books of all time entitled The Prince, which has two main themes: the qualities a good prince
ought to have, and the need to liberate Italy from the “barbarians”. In the sixteenth century, Sir
Francis Bacon published one of his most famous books entitled New Atlantis, which was
constructed as a narrative of a utopian society, but mainly about the impact that science and
knowledge should have on a regime. During this time, anti-religious sentiments had to be written
covertly by authors who wanted to get their point across without being punished. Both
Machiavelli’s and Bacon’s book discuss the role of religion within a regime. Within the Prince,
the role of religion, specifically Christianity, is seen as unnecessary because it makes people
submissive and weak. In Bacon’s book, religion plays the role of holding both science and
politics together to achieve a specific goal, which is to dominate fortune and chance.
In Machiavelli’s book the Prince, the role of religion, specifically Christianity, is seen as
unnecessary because it divides society into factions, and it makes people passive. In order to
understand how the church divides society and makes people passive, one must understand what
Machiavelli believes is the highest good in human nature and shows how the same traits of
human nature found in people can also be found in the Church. In chapter three of The Prince,
titled “Of Mixed Principalities”, Machiavelli eloquently summarizes human nature by saying:
“And truly it is a very natural and ordinary thing to desire to acquire, and always, when men do it
who can, they will be praised or not blamed…” (Machiavelli, 14). Machiavelli is certain that the
most important thing in human nature is self-interest, in terms of preservation and acquisition.
People want to maximize the ability to maintain the power they hold, and acquire more when it is
necessary in order to preserve their natural way of life.

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These important factors are oddly similar to the Church’s nature, which seems to be more
of a human institution than a divine one because just like humans, the Church seeks self-
preservation as well. In chapter eleven of Machiavelli’s book, titled “Of Ecclesiastical
Principalities”, Machiavelli discusses the dangers of theocratic regimes, and he uses examples of
the wars taking place in Italy between the Pope’s principalities versus other Italian principalities.
He discusses how the Pope uses his money to purchase his troops. While the Pope is able to
defend himself, internally there are problems that arise within the Church among the Cardinals.
Machiavelli states, “Nor will these parties ever be quiet as long as they have cardinals; for
cardinals nourish parties, within Rome and without, and the barons are forced to defend them.
Thus, from the ambition of prelates arise disorders and tumults among the barons” (Machiavelli,
47). Religion makes people factional. Although religion is usually contextualized in a divine
way, the Church often reflects human nature, which means that when people form religious
factions, they do so not out of a religious motivation but out of self-interests. Because there is no
highest good, people replace the divine higher good with their own blind self-interest, which
therefore creates factions. Overall, this makes religion a human institution instead of a divine
one.
While one of the roles of Christianity, according to Machiavelli, is to divide society,
another role of religion is to weaken the people. Christianity, and the New Testament in the
Bible, teaches humility, but the Church also has other goals in which it wants to control the
masses. In order to do so, the Church has to weaken the masses and strengthen the institution.
For example, Machiavelli discusses the fragmentation of the empire and the emergence of the
many different states, the papal state, and the means of protection for the papal state. He writes:
“…the Church supported the cities to give herself reputation in temporal affairs…Hence, since

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Italy had almost fallen into the hands of the Church and a few republics, and since the priests and
the other citizens did not have knowledge of arms, they began to hire foreigners” (Machiavelli,
52). The priests are not armed, but their goal is to weaken the public and use the people as mere
followers of the religion. The Church does not give the people arms to defend the faith or
themselves but instead, the Church pays for a mercenary army to defend their power. This makes
the people weaker because since the Church buys foreign troops and there is no conscripted
army, the citizens have no formal military training. Therefore since the Church seeks to acquire,
which is another human quality according to Machiavelli, the Church is further reduced to a
human affair and not a divine one.
In Bacon’s book, religion obtains the role that holds science and politics together in order
to achieve the goals of society and science. In order to understand how religion holds science and
politics together, one must first understand how Bacon demonstrates similarities between
religion and science in New Atlantis. Within this book, the high government, also known as
Salomon’s House, tries their best to integrate both science and religion within their regime. For
example, when the governor of Salomon’s house spoke to the Spanish sailors, he states “For the
several employments and officers of our fellows; we have twelve that sail into foreign countries,
under the name of other nations, who bring us books, and abstracts, and patterns of experiments
of all other parts” (Bacon, 81).. The officials within Salomon’s house seem to play on biblical
references in terms of numbers and names. For example, the name Salomon is a hybrid name that
originates from the Hebrew King Solomon, and the founder of Bensalem, which is Solomona.
Even the scientific institution that was created in Bensalem has a biblical reference which is
called the College of Six Day works (Bacon, 58). They seem to play on the biblical notion of the
twelve disciples in correlation with their twelve travelers who go out and get knowledge from

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other faraway lands. By integrating religious references and symbols in science and government,
the House of Salomon accustoms people with science, which in turn lulls the people into
cooperation with government.
Another relationship that one must understand in order to show how religion holds
politics and science together is the relationship between the people of Bensalem and the state.
It’s crucial to understand both who enforces the laws and the tradition of the Feast of the Family
holiday. While the state does provide the people of Bensalem with an abundance of goods and
services, the state also gives the families of Bensalem their own rights to judge themselves, but
this power is only given to the head patriarch. For example, when the governor of Bensalem is
speaking to the Spanish sailors about the Feast of the Family holiday, he discusses how the head
patriarch settles conflicts, family welfare, the use of punishment towards other family members,
and arranged marriages (Bacon, 60). In reality, these are actions that the judicial system or police
forces handle, but Bensalem has neither a court system, army, nor police force. The law is
privately handled by the family. This removes opposition to science because the citizens are
occupied governing their own lives. This changes the concept of citizenship because the House
of Salomon does not hold the rights to enforce the law on its people, so the citizens of Bensalem
have no purpose of speaking out. Therefore, it diminishes public opinion.
While the House of Salomon provides their citizens with an abundance of goods,
services, and the rights to administer law within their own families, the government uses religion
to ensure their people’s allegiance to the regime, which is seen through the “Feast of the
Family”. The Feast of the family is a holiday in which all citizens of Bensalem celebrate fathers
of the family. The fathers are given ivy, grapes, and a scroll that is the “…Kings Charter
containing gift of revenew, and many privileges, exemptions, and points of honour, granted to

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the Father of the Family; and is ever styled and directed To such an one our well-beloved friend
and creditor…” (Bacon, 62). This holiday celebrates the role of the fathers in families, but it
goes beyond that. Ultimately, the House of Salomon is filled with men and this holiday does not
acknowledge the role of women at all, nor are their women involved in the House of Salomon.
The House of Salomon also reinforces religion by fusing religion with civil society in which the
Feast of the Family prayer praises “…Adam and Noah and Abraham” the first patriarchs of the
world (Bacon, 64). This holiday’s goal is not to celebrate the fathers of the family. The real goal
revolves around celebrating the regime. The same way that fathers of the family create their
lineage, the House of Salomon created their country and gave their people a great society. So in
return, the Feast of the Family is seen as reinforcing their people’s citizenship and by using these
religious symbols, religion seeks to order civil society and worship the House of Salomon.
After analyzing the similarities Bacon draws between religion and science, and the
relationship between the state and the people of Bensalem, religion holds science and politics
together to achieve the goal of domination. For example, the governor tells the Spanish sailors:
“The End of our Foundation is the knowledge of Causes, and secret motions of things; and the
enlarging of the bounds of Human Empire, to the effecting of all things possible” (Bacon, 71).
This quote has nothing to do with God. In fact, this quote seems to praise humanity and neglect
God as foundation within the regime. The regime seems to praise science instead of religion.
This is evident when the governor talks about how the House of Bensalem has “…two very long
and fair galleries: in one of these we place patterns and samples of all manner of the more rare
and excellent inventions…we erect a statue to the inventor, and give him a liberal and
honourable reward” (Bacon, 82-83). When the House of Salomon interacts with their people,
they seem religious but when they describe their aims and goals of the state, they seem to praise

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science over God. The regime seeks to dominate nature and chance but while this is the main
goal, the state uses religion to create cooperation among the citizens of Bensalem. That is how
religion holds science and politics together because it’s used as an instrument of illusion to
distract the citizens from what is really going on in the House of Salomon.
In conclusion, the role of Christianity in Machiavelli’s book seeks to divide society and
make people weak. This is because the motives of the Church are similar to human nature in
which their overall goal is self-preservation, which is fueled by self-interest and acquisition. In
order to do this, the Church disarms the people and uses foreign troops to protect its self from
external forces. While religion pushes for self-preservation, it causes factions as well, which
ultimately divides society. Therefore, religion becomes unnecessary because there is no higher
good that comes from Christianity. In Bacon’s book, the role of religion is to hold politics and
science together to achieve the goal of dominating fortune and chance. The similarities between
religion and science, and the relationship between the people of Bensalem and the government
through the celebration of the Feast of the Family furthers the notion of religion holding politics
and science together. Religion keeps the citizens cooperative with the regime, and it serves as an
illusionary instrument to keep people distracted from knowing the true intentions of the regime.
Ultimately, both Bacon and Machiavelli seem to diminish religion to point where it’s a human
institution that carries many of the self-centered qualities of human nature instead of it being a
divine institution ordained by God. While Bacon argues the humanization of religion helps the
regime reach the higher good of society, which is to dominate chance and fortune in order to
have a successful regime, Machiavelli argues that religion makes people submissive, passive,
and unable to strengthen their own power.